San Juan Record Classifieds, Events, Businesses In Monticello, San Juan County, Utah

Aug 22, 2007 | 4025 views | 0 | 533 | |

The Monticello Buckaroos and the San Juan Broncos opened their home 2007 football seasons to different degrees of success on August 17. The Bucks triumphed over the Parowan Rams 12-6 in Monticello, while the Broncos succumbed to the Kanab Cowboys 27-6 on a balmy night in Blanding.

The Bucks triumphed for the ninth time in a row over the Rams after Kelvin Curtis broke open a tie ball game in the second half by returning a kickoff 83 yards to paydirt. Curtis, a senior, emerged as the go-to-guy on the night for the Bucks, picking up 152 all purpose yards, including the return, 64 rushing yards and five yards pass receiving.

The Bucks moved the ball fairly successfully using the new veer offense, but had trouble punching it in to the endzone. Curtis ripped off a 19 yard run from scrimmage for the longest run on the night while senior Cory Eardley and junior Ashton Whipple both had catches that went for 32 yards each.

On the night, junior quarterback Daniel Torres connected on six of 15 passes for 70 yards. The Bucks also rushed for 86 yards.

On defense, Kevin Anderson proved tough to handle for the Rams. He spent much of the night in the Ram backfield, wrecking enough havoc that “Bobby Bowden wouldn’t know how to handle him,” according to the radio guys.

Anderson, a senior, recorded 15 tackles on the night, proving my and the radio guys point. Junior Joseph Weatherford pitched in with six tackles of his own. The Bucks as a whole put heavy pressure on the Ram QB who was able to connect on only one of 15 pass attempts.

Overall, the Buckaroos have won 10 of 11 contests with the Rams. This week is a different story, with the Bucks traveling to Moab for a 56th meeting with the Grand Red Devils. The Red Devils lead the series 39-12 with four ties. Last year Grand won the most lopsided game of the series ever, 53-0.

Conversely, the Broncos took a hard hit from the Cowboys of Kanab. Kanab took the opening kickoff and scored in five plays, making it look a little too easy. But the Broncos came right back and put together an extended drive that consumed over nine minutes on the clock, but which yielded no points when the Broncos turned the ball over on downs inside the 10 yard line.

A 65 yard TD run by Kohler Black was called back and seemed to take a little of the life out of the Broncos. Black had to leave the game after the play complaining of shortness of breath and didn’t return for some time.

Another drive, this one just before halftime, ended with the Broncos again inside the Cowboys 10 yard line, but the Broncos couldn’t punch it in leaving the Cowboys ahead 12-0 at halftime.

The second half yielded much of the same with the Cowboys scoring twice more before the Broncos finally put up a score in the fourth quarter. San Juan has defeated Kanab nine of the 15 times they’ve battled since 1982- they last met in 2004-but this night belonged to the Cowboys.

The loss, which was the tenth opening night loss for the Broncos in the past 30 years, was reminiscent of last year’s opening loss to Grand. Last year the Broncos righted the ship quickly, winning seven straight after that loss.

Says Bronco Head Coach Monty Lee, “Kanab was good and we have a lot to work on. We are still varsity-experience-young and have lots to learn. At the moment I am not sure where we are headed, but my coaches will work it out and I still wouldn’t bet against us. We [might not] reel off seven straight wins but we will get better.”

Lucky for San Juan they continue their season this week in Blanding against the Cortez Panthers, whom they beat 21-0 last year after that opening Red Devil loss to turn the season around. San Juan leads the 17 game series with Cortez that began in 1958, with 10 victories.

200 games for

San Juan alum

Former San Juan football and basketball star Jimmy Jones coached his 200th football game for the Emery Spartans in an emotional evening in Castle Dale last Friday. Of course, we all know of the ongoing tragedy folks from Emery County are enduring.

Emery lost the game to Duchesne, who won their 14th game in a row, the second longest current streak in the state. But the Duchesne players, in a show of support, presented nearly $1,600 they raised to the families of the victims of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster.

Both the Monticello and San Juan volleyball teams open play this week. Look for previews in future issues.

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